why i love my job

my job is to prepare out-of-school youth (the politically correct way of saying 'drop outs')to take the GED. we spend most of our class time working on math, language arts and writing essays. my students are not what most people would consider to be 'the cream of the crop.' some of them are drop-outs because of problems with the law. some of them have never had a single adult show them concern. i had an interesting conversation with one who said he never went to school because his parents did not care if he went. another student told me that when he was 12, he went to kennywood with some friends. when he came home, his mom had moved away. he was completely alone. can you imagine? half of my female students either have kids or are expecting. these kids do not have it easy. yeah, some are just lazy. but even they are trying to do better.

so today, i decided to change things up a bit and i showed them a movie. we watched "Good Will Hunting." i could never have shown that movie in a 'real' high school because every other word is 'fuck.' but i showed it to my kids. at first, they were kind of skeptical. but after a few minutes, they were drawn in. the story of will hunting... an abused kid who has amazing mathematical abilities. in the end, will has to choose between staying with his old life and his friends or following the only person who has ever truly loved him.

i asked the students to write an essay after the movie. they had to tell me if they would have made the same choice that will made. they also had to explain why. i wish i could post their answers..all of them. these kids are amazing. so honest. and it's not just what they said, but that they really understood the situation and were able to talk about the choice as if it were theirs. and i could tell just how open and honest they were being to me.

those honest kids. those trusting, honest kids. they come to my classroom every day. they didn't do that in high school. they gave up on that nonsense, because their parents and teachers gave up on them. but they don't give up on me. and there is no way in hell i am giving up on them.

yup, i love my job.